
GotBio: Carbon-neutral fuel scenarios
The government has designated the Swedish island of Gotland as a pilot area to drive the transition to a sustainable energy system with heat, electricity and industry working together. One goal is for Gotland to have an efficient and fossil-free energy system by 2030, with local production from various renewable energy sources.
The GotBio project investigates the long-term potential and synergies of biogas and hydrogen and their by-products for use in the industrial and transport sectors from an overall system perspective. The long-term effects on the energy system (e.g. energy flows, capacity investments, system costs, etc.) will be assessed.
There is biogas production in Gotland, but further potential could be developed. There are also plans for large-scale hydrogen production linked to wind and solar power initiatives. Road and maritime transport are potential consumers of biogas and hydrogen as fuel.
Developing an optimisation model
In the project, an optimisation model for the energy system (TIMES-Gotland) is further developed, including all sectors and their interactions. We study scenarios for carbon neutrality in 2040 on Gotland with the model. It has been built in the ongoing GotHeat project, which focuses on the heating sector in Gotland.
The industry and transport sectors contribute to a large part of the carbon emissions on the island. In the future, the industrial, transport, electricity and heating sectors will be more interconnected, and each of these sectors cannot be studied in isolation from the others. Therefore, the project will analyse the broader energy system impacts of biogas and hydrogen use in the industrial and transport sectors for future scenarios.
Project facts
- Project name: GotBio: Potential for bio-based energy in carbon-neutral scenarios on Gotland (GotBio: Potential för biobaserad energi i koldioxidneutrala scenarier på Gotland)
- Funding: The Swedish Energy Agency Bio+
- Budget: 1.5 million SEK
- Project partners: IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute, Region Gotland, Brogas AB, Norwegian Hydrogen, Uppsala university
- Period: 2023 - 2024